Kate Bonnet eBook

When she looked up again she spoke about what she
had come to ask him for; the authority to bring back
her father wherever she might find him, and to defend
him from the attacks of all persons, whoever they might
be, until she reached Jamaica. And then she told
him how she would seek for her father on every sea.

The Governor sat and pondered. The father of
such a girl should be saved from the terrible fate
awaiting him, if the thing could possibly be done.
And yet, what a difficult, almost hopeless thing it
was to do. To find a pirate, a fierce and bloody
pirate, and bring him back unharmed to his daughter’s
arms and to reasonable restraint.

He spoke earnestly. “What you propose,”
he said, “you cannot do. It would be impossible
for you to find your father; and if you did, no matter
who might be with you, and no matter how successful
you might be with him, his crew would not let him
go. But there is one thing which might be done.
The Badger will report at different stations, and her
course and present cruising ground might be discovered.
Thus I might send a despatch to Captain Vince, ordering
him not to harm your father, but to take him prisoner,
and to bring him here to be dealt with.”

Kate sprang to her feet.

“An order to Captain Vince!” she exclaimed,
“an order to withhold his hand from my father?
Ah, sir, your goodness is great, this is far more
than I had dared to expect! When I last saw Captain
Vince he left me in a great rage, but, knowing that
he would respect your order, I would dare his rage.
If his revengeful hand should be withheld from my father
I would fear nothing.”

“I beg you to be seated,” said the Governor,
“and let me assure you, that in offering to
send this order to Captain Vince I do not in the least
expect you to take it. But there is one thing
I do not understand. Why should the captain have
left you in a great rage? Perhaps I have not
a right to ask this, but it seems to me to have some
bearing upon his alacrity in setting forth in pursuit
of the Revenge.”

“I fear,” said Kate, “that this
may be true; I do not deem it improper for me to say
to you, sir, that Captain Vince made me an offer of
marriage, and that in order to induce me to accept
it he offered, should he come up with the Revenge,
to spare my father and to let him go free, visiting
the punishment he was sent to inflict upon the rest
of the people in the ship.”

“I am surprised,” said the Governor, “to
hear you say that; such an action would have been
direct disobedience to his orders. It would have
been disloyalty, which not even the possession of your
fair hand could justify. And you refused his
offer?”

“That did I,” said Kate, her face flushing
at the recollection of the unpleasant interview with
the captain; “I cared not for him, and even
had I, I would not have consented to wed a man who
offered me his dishonour as a bribe for doing so.
Not even for my father’s life would I become
the bride of such a one!”